Most individuals buy and use a hair shampoo for its cleansing properties. In addition to having clean hair, a consumer also desires sufficiently-conditioned hair that holds a preset configuration. However, hair shampoos generally are formulated with highly effective anionic surfactants that primarily clean as opposed to conditioning in the hair. Anionic surfactants not only remove the dirt and soil from the hair, but also remove sebum naturally present on the surface of the hair fibers. Therefore, the desirable cleansing properties of anionic surfactants also leave the hair in a cosmetically-unsatisfactory condition. Shampoos also do not detangle wet hair and do not impart residual conditioning benefits to dry hair, such as manageability or styleability of hair sets.
In general, shampoo compositions containing anionic surfactants, or nonionic surfactants or amphoteric surfactants, leave hair with an undesirable harsh, dull and dry touch, or feel, usually called "creak", after the hair is shampooed and then rinsed with water. Furthermore, thoroughly cleansed hair also is extremely difficult to comb, in either the wet or the dry state, because the individual hair fibers tend to snarl, kink, and interlock with each other. In addition, incompletely dried hair, such as hair dried with a towel, has poor brushing properties, and after complete drying, the hair does not set well. The combing or brushing property of dry hair remains poor, and the hair has undesirable electrostatic properties in a low humidity atmosphere that causes the hair to "fly away", thereby further reducing the brushing properties of the hair.
The unsatisfactory combing or brushing property of hair immediately after shampooing, or during trimming treatments after shampooing, also causes hair damage, such as split ends or hair breakage. In addition, the natural luster and resiliency of the hair is reduced. The overall unsatisfactory condition of shampooed hair often necessitates a subsequent post-shampoo treatment of the hair with a conditioning composition to improve these undesirable physical characteristics. Conditioning compositions typically are applied separately from the hair shampoo, and usually are rinses, cream-like emulsions or lotions containing a cationic compound.
Therefore, consumer needs traditionally have been met by the application of a shampoo to cleanse the hair, followed by the application of a conditioner composition to improve wet combing. The commonly accepted method has been to shampoo the hair, followed by rinsing the hair, and then separately applying a conditioner composition, followed by a second rinse. The wet combing problem has been solved by treating shampooed hair with a conditioner composition that coats the hair shaft and causes the individual hair shafts in a tress to resist tangling and matting because of the conditioner residue retained on the shaft.
However, the need for improved compositions that condition the hair, i.e., render the hair more manageable, has long been recognized in the art. As previously discussed, it is well-known that anionic surfactants are suitable for hair shampooing, and that cationic compounds, like cationic surfactants and cationic polymers, are useful as hair conditioners. Therefore, cationic compounds that are substantive to hair often are used to complete the hair cleansing and hair conditioning cycle.
The ability of cationic compounds to adsorb to or interact with the keratinous material of the hair makes these compounds desirable for improving wet hair detangling and dry hair manageability. However, cationic compounds that adsorb particularly strongly to the hair also can reduce the elasticity, body and set of the dried hair. Therefore, although conditioning compositions for application to freshly shampooed hair are well known, new and improved conditioning formulations based on cationic compounds are continually sought.
For example, the majority of present-day, commercial hair-conditioner compositions are emulsion-type products. Emulsion products have been preferred because a water-insoluble hair conditioning compound, which resists rinsing from the hair during the rinsing step, can be formulated into a conditioner composition. However, such water-insoluble conditioning compounds often leave an excessive residue of conditioning compound on the hair.
Consequently, the present invention is directed to a new clear conditioning composition that is esthetically acceptable to consumers, improves the wet combing and dry combing properties of hair, and also leaves the dry hair with satisfactory cosmetic and physical properties, including, in particular, dry combing and feel, less hair coating, manageability, body, condition of the ends and set.
Effective clear conditioning compositions have been difficult to formulate because conditioning compounds used in clear conditioning compositions often have a relatively high water solubility and are too easily rinsed from the hair. Therefore, investigators have continually sought a clear conditioning composition incorporating a conditioning compound that provides a clear composition yet is not easily rinsed from the hair.
Hair conditioning compositions, such as emulsion-type creme rinses, are well known in the art for improving the combing properties of wet hair and dry hair. These conditioning compositions typically are aqueous emulsions including a cationic compound, like a quaternary ammonium compound, as the principal conditioning agent. Prior patents describe the quaternary ammonium compound either as a polymeric material having a plurality of quaternary nitrogen atoms per molecule or as a molecule having at least one long carbon chain and an average of one quaternary nitrogen atom per molecule. The prior patents also describe hair conditioning compositions as including silicon-containing compounds, substituted amides and amides, nonionic surfactants, long carbon chain alcohols and esters, and other ingredients to facilitate composition formulation and enhance consumer appeal.
For example, Cella et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,993,744 discloses that cationic compounds, such as quaternary ammonium compounds, and silicones can be combined with perfluorinated compounds to provide hair treatment compositions. The silicones specifically disclosed by Cella et al. are nonionic surfactant-like polyoxyethylene polymethylsiloxanes that apparently are water-soluble or dispersible.
Matravers U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,433 discloses a clear conditioning composition comprising an aqueous blend of a polymeric quaternary ammonium salt, ethoxylated lauryl alcohol, ethoxylated cholesterol and hydroxyethylcellulose.
Janchipraponvej U.S. Pat. No. 4,954,335 discloses a clear conditioning composition comprising a quaternary ammonium compound, an amidoamine, a volatile conditioning agent and a solubilizing nonionic surfactant.
Nachtigal et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,275,055 discloses a pearlescent hair conditioner composition including a quaternized tertiary amidoamine, a quaternary ammonium compound and, optionally, a tertiary amidoamine, i.e., stearamidoethyldiethylamine. The composition of Nachtigal et al. is directed to achieving a stable pearlescent effect and neither includes a silicone compound having at least one quaternary ammonium moiety nor is the composition a clear conditioning composition.
Wagman et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,037 discloses a hair conditioner composition comprising a polydimethyl cyclosiloxane, a quaternary-nitrogen containing conditioning agent having two long alkyl chains of twelve to eighteen carbons and two short alkyl chains of one or two carbon atoms, a long chain fatty alcohol and a tertiary amidoamine of the general structural formula (III): ##STR3## wherein R.sub.8 is a fatty chain having from about 11 to about 17 carbon atoms, R.sub.9 is an alkylene group having 2 or 3 carbon atoms and R.sub.10 is methyl or ethyl. The compositions of Wagman et al. are emulsions as opposed to the clear conditioning compositions of the present invention.
Ziemelis et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,597,964 discloses a cationic polyorganosiloxane that is substantive to protein substrates. The disclosed cationic organosiloxanes are emulsifiable and are used to treat hair.
As will be demonstrated more fully hereinafter, and in contrast to prior emulsion-type hair-conditioning compositions, a clear conditioning composition of the present invention, comprising: (1) an amidoamine salt, said amidoamine salt comprising: (a) an amidoamine compound of general structural formula (I) or (II), (b) neutralized with a suitable acid, and (2) a silicone compound having at least one quaternary ammonium moiety, unexpectedly imparts improved conditioning properties upon application to human hair. Therefore, the condition of treated hair is improved by a method of contacting the hair with a clear aqueous composition comprising an amidoamine compound of general structural formula (I) or (II) neutralized with a suitable acid, and a silicone compound having at least one quaternary ammonium moiety. A composition of the present invention can be applied to the hair from an aqueous carrier at ambient temperature and is allowed to contact the hair for a relatively short time to provide the benefits and advantages of a hair conditioner. Consequently, the method and composition of the present invention condition the hair to provide more manageable and esthetically-pleasing hair.